Varsity845 boys' soccer player of year: NFA's Alex Bramall

He pulled his jersey over his head and left it there for the entire bus ride home.

Justin Rodriguez

He pulled his jersey over his head and left it there for the entire bus ride home.

Sitting alone in a seat, Alex Bramall, addicted to his cell phone, didn't answer it or reply to text messages. He didn't even talk to his teammates trying to cheer him up.

This was on Sept. 22, after Newburgh Free Academy's first loss of the year, 4-2, at Monroe-Woodbury in Central Valley. Sure, the loss hurt, but what hurt even more was Bramall's body.

Just like every other team, Monroe-Woodbury pounded him, pushing him, tackling, throwing him on the grass.

Not only was Bramall, fresh off a year-long stint with the prestigious U.S. U-17 national residency team in Bradenton, Fla., a marked man. No player, perhaps in Section 9 history, has been come at as hard as Bramall was this fall.

"I thought about quitting after that game," Bramall, a junior midfielder, says. "I didn't want to take it anymore."

Bramall never left Newburgh.

He couldn't walk away from his teammates. He couldn't let his rivals get to him. Bramall came back harder, with more resolve, and, in the end, that dark moment on the bus fueled him.

Just more than a month later, Bramall made a brilliant run up the middle, threading a perfect pass to teammate Jorge Giron, who scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Monroe-Woodbury in the Section 9 Class AA championship.

That run felt as good as any Bramall has made in places such as France and Argentina with some of the brightest young American players flanking him.

"It felt great because, last year, we couldn't win it," says Bramall, the Varsity845 Player of the Year. "I felt like I put my skill into the team. That goal made me feel better about everything I went through this year."

Bramall heard digs from opposing players all season:

"Hey, superstar."

"If you are so good, why aren't you still in Florida?"

"Why aren't you scoring all the goals?"

The physical hits were even worse. Bramall sustained a bruised kidney and ribs, missing two games, after a hard foul by Pine Bush's Cameron Engels on Oct. 4. He suffered a sprained MCL, Bramall says, after he was tackled from behind by a Monroe-Woodbury player in the Section 9 championship game. Bramall admits sometimes retaliating, and becoming so frustrated that he would give refs an earful. Still, he played through the Monroe-Woodbury injury, suiting up for a 2-1 loss to John Jay-East Fishkill in the opening round of Class AA state tournament.

"It had to be frustrating," Newburgh coach Matt Iorlano says. "Alex had a target on his back because of his status. It was almost like he was a trophy and all these other players were hunting for him. But he handled it as well as anyone could."

Adds one of Bramall's rivals, Monroe-Woodbury midfielder, Sean Reilly: "I wouldn't say it wasn't fair. (Bramall) had the label of playing for the national team and had to be marked hard. You wanted to show you could take the ball from him or do better than a player like him. But, obviously, he was on a different level with his moves and touch. It was clear he had natural talent."

Bramall's touch, especially for this area, was David Beckham-like. With an effortless strike of the ball with his left foot, Bramall put balls right on his teammates' foot or heads in front of the goal. Some of his former national coaches talk about Bramall's vision on the pitch. Everything went through Bramall, who finished with 12 goals and 10 assists, and Newburgh played its best when he was on his game.

Bramall's game could get him a shot with the U.S. U-18 national men's team in the coming months and his goal is to play for the full national team someday. If Bramall plays with the 18s, he may not return to Newburgh next fall.

Still, despite being stalked all year, he's happy he dropped back into Section 9.

"I'm sure if I got a chance to play against Cristiano Ronaldo I would be jealous and yell at him," Bramall says. "But that's part of the game. I'm just happy I got a chance to come back and play with all of my friends I played with growing up. In many ways, that was better than all of the other stuff I've done."